The methane cycle is interesting. Back a couple hundred and fifty millions ago there was a really bad one that killed mostly every creature in every nook of existence. Methane will be a product of
It takes a lot of heat to warm the oceans, but these events have happened at least twice before in catastrophic ways and many times before in "merely bad" ways. Once the "event" begins there is no way for humans to prevent the full effect.
It seems to already have begun, plus humans are doing very little to even slow it, let alone prevent it.
Reversal of this process by methane-eating microbes will slowly restore the planet to less horrible conditions, but not until the ability to metabolize methane has evolved sufficiently in the set of surviving species. That will take a long time.
During that time most complex forms of life will be greatly reduced. Only the most austere microbial systems will thrive to provide a food chain for higher lifeforms like scorpions that can handle such temperature extremes.
This is from NASA about 250 million years ago:
Some scientists think it was caused by an asteroid, and it may have been. Some think that extreme volcanism was the trigger. But, whatever the initial cause, the release of methane into the atmosphere was the final stroke of doom for the life forms of that era.
Humans might be able to survive a methane event, but only in much smaller numbers and only by employing advanced kinds of technology -- stuff we don't yet have today. We should gather together recipes for cooking "clumps of whatever" for our descendants. They won't be thanking us for much else.
- All us mammals -- especially you cows -- and bacteria, etc.
- Melting tundra in the Arctic.
- Methane ice (hydrides) sublimation under the 'barely cold enough' sea floors as deep water warms even slightly.
- Rotting kill-offs in the oceans which increase both methane and carbon dioxide levels.
- Positive feedback loops that melt ever increasing amounts of methane ice and tundra which trap more heat, etc.
It takes a lot of heat to warm the oceans, but these events have happened at least twice before in catastrophic ways and many times before in "merely bad" ways. Once the "event" begins there is no way for humans to prevent the full effect.
It seems to already have begun, plus humans are doing very little to even slow it, let alone prevent it.
Reversal of this process by methane-eating microbes will slowly restore the planet to less horrible conditions, but not until the ability to metabolize methane has evolved sufficiently in the set of surviving species. That will take a long time.
During that time most complex forms of life will be greatly reduced. Only the most austere microbial systems will thrive to provide a food chain for higher lifeforms like scorpions that can handle such temperature extremes.
This is from NASA about 250 million years ago:
The terrible event had been lost in the amnesia of time for eons. It was only recently that paleontologists, like hikers stumbling upon an unmarked grave in the woods, noticed a startling pattern in the fossil record: Below a certain point in the accumulated layers of earth, the rock shows signs of an ancient world teeming with life. In more recent layers just above that point, signs of life all but vanish.
Some scientists think it was caused by an asteroid, and it may have been. Some think that extreme volcanism was the trigger. But, whatever the initial cause, the release of methane into the atmosphere was the final stroke of doom for the life forms of that era.
Humans might be able to survive a methane event, but only in much smaller numbers and only by employing advanced kinds of technology -- stuff we don't yet have today. We should gather together recipes for cooking "clumps of whatever" for our descendants. They won't be thanking us for much else.
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